The CRAFT clearance, line by line

July 10, 2026 · FAA phraseology · JO 7110.65 4-3-2 · AIM 5-2-5

Every IFR clearance in the US is built the same way, in the same order. Pilots brief it as CRAFT so they can copy at dictation speed; controllers issue it in that order so nothing gets lost. Here is a complete example for a departure from San Diego (KSAN), then each line unpacked.

C — Clearance limit

“Cleared to (destination) airport.” Almost always the destination; a fix or an intermediate airport only in unusual flow situations. Say the airport, not the ICAO code — “cleared to Atlanta”, not “cleared to K-A-T-L”. If the pilot filed to the wrong place, this is where you catch it: the strip says the flight plan, and the clearance limit must match it.

R — Route

Three shapes, from most to least common at a towered field:

• SID + transition + as filed — “ZZOOO Four departure, Gila Bend transition, then as filed.” The departure procedure and its transition are part of the route: name them, with the number (procedures get renumbered — ZZOOO Four, not just “the ZZOOO”).
• As filed only — “cleared to Boise as filed” when no SID applies.
• Full route readout — only when ATC changes the filed route.

A — Altitude

What you say depends on how the SID is charted — there are exactly three legal forms (full guide with charts here):

The “expect (altitude) 10 minutes after departure” line is the lost-communications backstop: if the radio dies, the pilot climbs to it on schedule. When the SID chart already prints it, the controller may omit it — when in doubt, say it.

F — Frequency

“Departure frequency one one niner point six.” The frequency the pilot will be handed to after takeoff. It comes from the SID chart or the airport’s SOP — at fields with split sectors, make sure it matches the runway configuration in use.

T — Transponder

“Squawk four seven zero one.” Four digits, each 0–7 (transponder codes are octal — a “squawk 4781” cannot exist, and our simulator will reject it too). Read digits individually: “four seven zero one”, never “forty-seven oh-one”.

Check the readback

The pilot reads the whole thing back. You are graded (in real life and in the sim) on catching bad readbacks: a wrong squawk digit, a dropped transition, “maintain” where “climb via SID” belongs. If it’s correct:

If it’s not — “negative”, restate the wrong item, and listen again.

PDC: the same clearance, as a text message

At most airline fields the clearance goes out by PDC (pre-departure clearance) over datalink: same CRAFT content, fixed format, no voice exchange. The discipline is identical — right SID, right altitude form, valid squawk, current ATIS letter — except the pilot acknowledges electronically and calls Ground directly. If the PDC can’t go out (system down, non-equipped aircraft), you fall back to exactly the voice clearance above.

Common mistakes

• Skipping the SID in the route. “As filed” alone, when the strip shows ZZOOO4, is an incomplete route.
• Wrong altitude form — see the climb via SID guide; it’s the #1 point loss.
• Invalid squawk — any digit 8 or 9.
• Stale ATIS on a PDC — the ATIS letter in the PDC must be current.
• Reading the destination as an ICAO code — say the city/airport name.